Richard Sherman Wants to Know Difference Between DeSean & Jim Irsay

Richard Sherman has another piece up on MMQB titled ‘Stardom Doesn’t Change Where You’re From’ in which he tackles the controversy surrounding his childhood friend DeSeasn Jackson as it relates to his “gang ties” that have been reported.

Of course there was a racial line drawn between DeSean Jackson who the Eagles cut and Riley Cooper who famously wanted to fight every n-word at a Kenny Chesney concert. The Eagles cut Jackson for his “gang ties” but gave Riley a few days off and a nice contract extension for his racist ties. The DeSean and Riley debate is a different debate for a different day for me.

However, that part of the equation is not what I want to focus on. The more interesting part of what Sherman wrote is what he had to say about Colts Owner Jim Irsay who was recently arrested for DUI and drug possession:

Commit certain crimes in this league and be a certain color, and you get help, not scorn. Look at the way many in the media wrote about Jim Irsay after his DUI arrest. Nobody suggested the Colts owner had “ties” to drug trafficking, even though he was caught driving with controlled substances (prescription pills) and $29,000 in cash to do who-knows-what with. Instead, poor millionaire Mr. Irsay needs help, some wrote.

Why is it that Irsay got so much sympathy given the circumstances surrounding his arrest? Think about this: if DeSean Jackson was arrested for DUI and charged with felony drug possession with $29k in cash on him, what would the fan and media reaction be like? Would it be enough if he went to rehab for people to just say he needed help? Did a single person call Irsay a thug?

There a lot of players who will be watching very closely to see what the league does with Jim Irsay considering how harshly they come down on players for similar arrests. Never mind that plays get find thousands of dollars for things like socks that aren’t league approved. It took guts for an active player to write a column calling out a particular Owner but it needed to be said.

I won’t ever understand why certain people hold the employees (players) to a higher standard than the people signing the checks. Roger Goodell needs to show that there is a difference between a DeSean Jackson and Jim Irsay, but that Irsay is subject to much harsher penalties as an Owner in this league.

2 COMMENTS

Sherman is obviously not putting his Stanford education to use because he seems to lack critical thinking skills in regards to this situation. NFL owners will almost always be treated differently than the players because they’re billionaires (not millionaires) and the commissioner works for THEM.

Also, DJ didn’t get cut from the Eagles soley because of alleged gang ties (which they already knew about); it was a combination of other issues between him and the organization including his huge contract which they no longer thought he was worth.

Comparing DJ’s situation to Irsay, an NFL owner who has substance abuse problems, is silly.